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THE 

SCHOOL OF AGRICULTURE 

AND 

EXPERIMENT STATION 



IN 



THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE COLLEGE 



SCHOOL OF AGRICULTURE AND 

EXPERIMENT STATION 

/v. 

Address during Farmers' Weekj^January 4, 1909 
By THOMAS F.AuNT 

WE are here tonight to talk about the work in which 
we are engaged. We are here to give an account- 
ing of our stewardship. We are your employees, 
your hired men, if it pleases you so to call us. The 
moral support that the farmers and other citizens of 
Pennsylvania have given our work during the past two 
years has astonished us beyond measure. Upon behalf of 
my colleagues, I take this occasion to thank you one and 
all most heartily for it. 

The fundamental basis for all progress in agriculture, 
as well as in all other industries, is the return to be 
obtained from a unit of labor. It is the application of 
this principal that has made the industrial progress of 
the Anglo-Saxon race to exceed that of any other. Many 
illustrations may be drawn from the field of agriculture. 
Only a few centuries ago, England raised six bushels of 
wheat to the acre and reaped it with a sickle. England 
now raises 30 bushels of wheat to the acre and harvests 
it with a self-binder. A man with a self-binder and three 
horses can easily harvest ten acres a day. To harvest 
this area with a sickle is said to have required the ser- 
vices of 35 men. The human reapers gathered 60 bushels, 
while the machine, on account of the increase in yield 
per acre, harvests 300 bushels. This is but one of many 
illustrations of the combined influence of increase in the 
fertility of soil and efficiently applied power. Neither do 



we need to stop here. We may carry the illustration fur- 
ther by comparing the flail with the steam thresher, 
the pestle and mortar with the modern roller flouring 
mill, and even the Dutch oven with the great mechanical 
bake- shops. However, all must concede that this last 
comparison is not altogether a fortunate one. 

The same result, namely, increase in the return per 
unit of labor, may, however, be brought about in quite 
a different manner. Statistics tell us that the yield of 
fleece per sheep has increased three times in sixty years 
in the United States. We get the same size in beeves 
at two years of age that formerly required four and 
five years. Within the present generation, farmers that 
used two 1,000 -pound horses have changed their motive 
power to three 1,500-pound horses. In 1850, the only 
breeds affecting the cattle of America were Shorthorns, 
Ayrshires and Devons. Since that time the yield of but- 
ter per cow has been greatly increased. The improvement 
of our breeds of live-stock has thus contributed untold 
potential "wealth to future generations. The improvement 
of cereals, vegetables and fruits has had a like effect. 

We are here dealing not with the fertility of the soil 

nor the application of motive power, but with the laws of 

heredity. Tlie vast possibilities in this line 

r TT j^x. can scarcely be estimated. For example, the 

of Heredity . , . , . „ ,.1 

universal mtroduction of a stram of wheat 

which by virtue of its hereditary power produced 
one bushel of wheat to the acre more than is now pro- 
duced would mean in Pennsylvania alone an annual 
addition to our yield of wheat of 1, (500, 000 bushels. 
The Pennsylvania Station has one variety of wheat 
which during eighteen years has produced about thirty- 
one bushels to the acre, while during the same period 
the average yield of wheat in Pennsylvania has been 
about sixteen bushels. How much of this difference in 
yield has been due to improved seed, and how much 
to superior soil or better farm methods, no one knows. 

2 



TT-.' 



No one will ever be able to tell precisely. Some sugges- 
tion as to the influence of heredity or, as we say, good 
seed, may be obtained by comparing the yields of the 
different varieties tested side by side on our experimental 
grounds under practically uniform conditions as to soil 
and cultural methods. During the past four seasons, the 
best average yield of any one variety was 34.8 bushels. 
The poorest yield was 29.6 bushels, while the average 
yield of twenty -one varieties was 30.7 bushels. If we 
assume now that the average hereditary power of twenty- 
one varieties was no worse than the average of the varie- 
ties of the state, it seems reasonable to suppose that the 
average yield of wheat under proper cultivation could be 
increased by good seed 4.1 bushels per acre throughout 
the state. This would amount to more than $6,000,000, 
annually obtained practically without cost, not for this 
year alone or next year, but for succeeding genera- 
tions, provided that by proper selection or otherwise this 
standard be maintained. This illustration is not given 
to claim for the Pennsylvania station any merit for its 
work, but to point out the vast possibilities in plant- 
breeding. The improvement in vegetables and fruits has 
already practically eliminated scurvy and undoubtedly 
reduced the occurrence of many other diseases of the 
human race, and "Who," says Luther Burbank, "can 
estimate the elevating and refining influences and moral 
value of flowers, with all their graceful forms and be- 
witching shades and combinations of color and exquisite 
varied perfumes? These silent influences are unconsciously 
felt even by those who do not appreciate them consciously ; 
and thus, with better and still better fruits, nuts, gi-ains 
and flowers, will the earth be transformed, and man's 
thoughts turned from the base destructive forces unto 
the nobler productive ones, which will lift him to higher 
planes of action toward that happy day when man shall 
offer his brother man, not bullets and bayonets, but richer 
grains, better fruits and fairer flowers." 



In the development of the state's resources there are 
involved two diverse factors: First, the agencies man 
finds when he is born into the world and, 
Factors in second, his ability to make use of these 

Resources agencies. It is the function of the experi- 

ment station to contribute its share toward 
improving these opportunities, and it is the duty of the 
School of Agriculture so to train men and women that 
they may make the most of their opportunities."^ We must 
see that the man behind the gun has a trained eye and 
a steady hand, and we must also see that he does not 
have a pop -gun to fire. It seems hardly necessary to add 
that the greater the opportunities and the more complex 
the agencies the greater must be the training. It takes 
a differently trained man to operate a self-binder or a 
threshing machine than it did to swing a sickle or a flail. 
The knowledge and insight necessary to maintain and 
improve breeds of animals and strains of plants is the 
most profound known to the human race. The business 
ability necessary to put vegetables and fruits of high 
quality into the hands of the proper consumers is scarcely 
exceeded by that of the steel or oil magnate who corrals 
the markets of the world. If this had not been so, the 
problem would have been settled long ago.\ 

As the name of the School of Agriculture and Experi- 
ment Station implies, its function is both to carry on 

investigation and to give instruction. When 
Function of ^^^ j^^j^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^, ^q^jp. 

Stafon ment and note that we are giving instruc- 

tion to something over 300 students in resi- 
dence and to 1,100 or more persons by mail, you must 
remember that while this is the most obvious part of our 
work it is only about half of it. That one-half of our acti- 
vities is in other channels than instruction is not a matter 
of choice but a matter of law. The expenditure of the 
funds appropriated by the federal government is quite 
properly very carefully supervised, so that no part of it 



may be diverted to instructioual or other purposes not 
experimental. In a rapidly growing institution with over- 
crowded classrooms and overworked teachers, the temp- 
tation to divert funds from the fundamental experimental 
work is often great. 

There are many good things that we might do, if the 
law governing the use of the funds at our disposal per- 

_, _ mitted it. For example, there is a great 

The Demand , , ^ ' . ^ . , . ^ 

for Bulletins demand upon every experiment station tor 

bulletins of an informational character, so- 
called popular bulletins. No part of the Adams fund 
can be used for publishing bulletins, not even the results 
of experiments made by funds appropriated under that 
Act. The Hatch Act says: "That bulletins or reports of 
progress shall be published at said stations at least once 
in three months, one copy of which shall be sent to each 
newspaper in the States and Territories in which they are 
respectively located, and to such individuals actually 
engaged in farming as may request the same, and as far 
as the means of the Station will permit." 

I do not say that the law has not been given a tremen- 
dous twist at times by some of the bulletins that have 
been published, but it may be safely asserted that if bul- 
letins of a strictly instructional character, such as "How 
to Grow Alfalfa," "The Culture of Potatoes," or "The 
Best Varieties of Apples for Pennsylvania," are to be 
published by this station, the state legislature must appro- 
priate the money for the purpose. We have desired to 
publish a number of bulletins which we believe would be 
of value to the farmers of Pennsylvania, which we could 
not see our way to do under the law and with the money 
at our disposal. 

The average number of persons on the 
School a^nd*^ pay-roll of the School of Agriculture and 
Station Experiment Station during the past five 

months has been 158. A considerable num- 
ber of these have been students receiving pay for a few 

5 



hours of work each month. If those who received less 
than $25 per month be eliminated, the total number of 
employees would be approximately seventy-five. What may 
be called the scientific staff numbers thirty- four persons. 
This does not include the staff of the Institute of Animal 
Nutrition, of which Dr. Armsby is Director, consisting of 
six persons. If the latter be included, there are sixteen 
persons who devote practically their whole time to inves- 
tigation, ten persons who devote their whole time to 
instructional work, and twenty persons who devote a part 
of their time to each kind of work. 

The Experiment Station receives annually $15,000 a 

year from the Hatch Fund, and receives this year $11,000 

from the Adams Fund. The State Legis- 

Incomeof j^^^^j.^ appropriated $4,000 for two years 

xpenmen ^^^^ ^^^^ tobacco investigation. The analyses 

Station . . 

of commercial fertilizers under the fertilizer 

control act and a part of the analyses under the food-con- 
trol act are made by this station for which the State 
Department of Agriculture pays us in fees about $15,000 
a year. Whatever balance there is left after paying for 
the expenses of the analyses, and this balance is not 
large, is used for defraying station expenses. These are 
the only sources of income for station work. The income 
for the experiment station has not increased materially 
since the passage of the Adams Act in 1906. 

The passage of the Adams Act and the establishment 
of the Institute of Animal Nutrition have made possible 

some additional lines of investigation. It is 
New Lines of ^^^^ custom at this station that before an 

experiment is undertaken an outline of the 
proposed investigation shall be submitted to the Director 
for his approval, and to facilitate the keeping of the 
record a number is assigned it. Since July 1, 1907, 
numbers have been assigned to 146 experiments. I am 
not sure that we should be proud of this record. It may 
be that we are getting the batter pretty thin. 



The experiments in progress may be divided roughly 
into those in agi-onomy, horticulture, animal husbandry, 
dairy husbandry and forestry. The most important piece 
of work in agronomy is the fertilizer experiments con- 
ducted on eighteen acres involving 144 plats during the 
past twenty- seven years. It is only within recent j^ears 
that the importance of this investigation has become 
apparent. It is hoped that nothing will occur to interfere 
in any way with the investigation for at least another 
quarter of a century. 

During the past two seasons, investigations have been 
under way to determine, if possible, the reasons for the 
differences in yield observed on the differently fertilized 
plats. There have been determined on certain plats, for 
example, the per cent of water soluble nitrogen, the per 
cent of water, and the temperature. The lime require- 
ment of certain plats has been determined. It is hoped 
that eventually these investigations may lead to a better 
knowledge of the laws of plant growth, and hence to 
better methods of producing crops. Vast quantities of 
data have already been accumulated, but very little of 
practical value has yet come out of it. It seems to me 
that men who are willing to do this kind of work deserve 
great credit. I know of nothing more discouraging than 
to work day in and day out, month in and month out, 
perhaps year in and year out, trying to solve some of 
these difficult problems. You are constantly seeing the 
object of your pursuit dimly in the distance, only to find 
when you come near that it was a mirage. Men are kept 
at this work by intense interest in the problems involved. 

Variety tests of wheat, oats, potatoes and corn are 
being conducted. Experiments on methods of selecting 
and keeping seed corn, on cultural methods with pota- 
toes, on practical methods of growing alfalfa, and studies 
in the productivity and variation of individual timothy 
plants and in the kinds and amount of soiling crojis for 
stable -fed herds, are being conducted. 



Experiments in horticulture have been recently greatly 

amplified at this station. A portion of the Adams fund 

has been set aside for an inquiry into the 
Experiments in , . , jx i. ^.-i • u j t- 

H rt* itu causes which aiiect the yield and quality 

in apples. 8ome of the specific lines 

of inquiry are: 

(1) The influence of commercial fertilizers and barnyard 

manure. 

(2) The influence of cultural methods. 

(3) The effect of tj'pes of soil. 

'4) The influence of climatic conditions, including eleva- 
tion and exposure. 

(5) Effects of cions from different trees. 

(6) The influence of amount and time of pruning. 

(7) The influence of fungous diseases. 

(8) The influence of insect enemies. 

Orchards in different sections of the State aggregating 
ninety- one acres and containing 3,660 trees are under 
investigation. An experimental orchard of twenty- seven 
acres has been started at the home station. Some idea of 
the extent of this investigation may be derived from the 
statement that in collecting data this past season a total 
of eighty tons of fruit was handled and recorded. In 
order to determine the current vigor of the trees, meas- 
urement of height and trunk girth were taken on each of 
the 3,660 trees, and 36,000 leaves were gathered, counted 
and weighed. 

Experiments in vegetable-gardening have been organ- 
ized on the home grounds. A great variety of vegetables 

are under investigation, but the most exten- 
Experiments • • , .,i v 

'th V t hi ^'^^^ experiments are with asparagus, cab- 
bage and tomatoes. It is the aim of the 
department of horticulture to have the most complete 
information concerning these three crops possessed by 
experiment stations or other agencies in America. It may 
be of interest to state that the gross income this first 
season from less than seven acres of vegetables under 



experiment was $1,025. These returns go a considerable 
way toward paying the expenses of the experiments, which 
must, in the nature of the case, always be large. 

For six years the effect of shelter upon fattening steers 
has been studied by feeding half a carload in a basement 
stable, while an equal number were fed in 
Shelter for a yard containing an open shed. As is now 

Steers ^^^^ known by all who have read our bulle- 

tins, these methods gave equally economical 
results. Dr. Armsby's experiments with the respiration 
calorimeter had already suggested that this might be 
found to be true, since his investigations showed that the 
exercise of mastication and digestion in a heavily fed 
steer might indeed be more than was necessary to keep 
an animal warm, especially if the temperature in which 
the animal was placed was kept too high. Dr. Armsby's 
experiments also show that about one -third the energy of 
a steer's food is saved when he lies down. This suggests 
a dry, well- bedded stable or shed for fattening animals. 

A study of a bulky and medium ration containing an 
equal quantity of digestible nutrients was begun with a 
carload of steers last winter, and is being 
xpenmensin ^.^^pgo^tied again this winter. A similar ex- 
periment is being conducted with the dairy 
herd. The commercial practicability of the milking- 
machine is also being tested. Records of a grade Guernsey 
herd for the past eighteen years have been studied with 
a view of determining the influence of pure-bred sires in 
increasing the production of milk and butter, and will be 
published in the next annual report. The poultry experi- 
ments of this station have been reported in Bulletin No. 87. 
As previously stated, the state makes a special appro- 
priation of $4,000 for tobacco experiments, 
Experiments — ^^iq only appropriation made by the legis- 
i. , ^ ^ ^ lature specifically for experimental work. 

These experiments are principally along 
two lines, namely shelter-tent experiments with Sumatra 



type tobacco and the improving of strains of tobacca 
by seed selection. The past summer, a man was main- 
tained in the field, conducting these investigations and 
studying the method of tobacco-growing in Lancaster 
county. There is not time to touch on all the lines of 
investigation carried on by this station. Suffice it to say 
that the station seeks, on the one hand, to carry on in- 
vestigations of a fundamental character and, on the other 
hand, seeks to determine the application of the principles 
involved to Pennsylvania conditions. 

One word should be said before leaving this phase of 
our subject about the Institute of Animal Nutrition which 
is an entirely separate agency of research under the 
direction of Dr. Armsby. The work of the institute of 
Animal Nutrition is a just pride to State College. It is 
not duplicated elsewhere in America, if indeed, it is any- 
where. Already its investigations have modified the ideas 
concerning the feeding of domestic animals wherever that 
subject is being studied, and have attracted the attention 
of the leading scientists in human physiology. It is con- 
ducting a work which the state of Pennsylvania should be 
proud to support most liberally. 

Let us look next at the work of instruction. The 
additions, both in numbers of departments and in the 
number of instructors within the depart- 
Lines of Study ^^ents, have offered opportunity to revise 
Staf o ^^^ extend the courses of study. The work 

of instruction in the School of Agriculture 
and Experiment Station is along the following lines : 

(1) Seven four years' courses, 

(2) A special course of two years. 

(3) Five winter courses. 

(4) Farmers' week, 

(5) Correspondence courses. 

(6) Graduate work. 



10 



Seven four years' courses in agriculture, leading to the 
degree of Bachelor of Science, have been outlined as 
follows : 

(1) Agricultural Chemistr3\ 

(2) Agronomy. 

(3) Animal Husbandry. 

(4) Dairy Husbandry. 

(5) Forestry. 

(6) Horticulture. 

(7) Plant Pathology. 

The freshman and sophomore years are the same for 
all courses, although the student has an option of certain 
technical subjects in the second semester of the sophomore 
year. The freshman year and the first semester of the 
sophomore year consist chiefly in a training in the lan- 
guages and the sciences, including botany, chemistry, 
geology, mathematics, physics and zoology. The student 
is not required to make his final decision as to his major 
field or course of study until the beginning of his junior 
year, when he enters upon the more specialized work of 
his course. Certain free electives are offered in the junior 
and senior years in order that the student may make his 
course more general or more technical, according to his 
individual needs. These courses have been prepared to 
to meet the existing demand for trained specialists in 
various agricultural lines. 

The special course of two years meets the needs of 
young men who do not have time to give to, nor prepara- 
tion to enter, one of the four years' courses. Opportunity 
is offered in these two years' courses to become proficient 
in one of several lines of agriculture. While you cannot 
grow an oak tree in a minute, and, in the nature of the 
case, a two years' course will not develop a student so 
fully as a four years' course, two years' training in this 
course is just as valuable as two years in any other. 
While some of the subjects studied are necessarily not 
presented in so much detail, they are pedagogically just 

11 



as correct as the more extended courses. This leads me 
to say a word about the training of the winter courses. It 
is sometimes assumed that the instruction given in these 
twelve weeks' courses is superficial, that they give infor- 
mation, not training, that the process is not unlike crate- 
fattening of chickens — a sudden access of knowledge 
resulting in flabby mental processes. After years of obser- 
vation and teaching of every class of students from winter- 
course students to post-graduate, I am willing to assert 
the belief that with no other class of students is so much 
real training given in twelve weeks as is given in these 
winter courses. This is quite a different matter from stat- 
ing that twelve weeks can give more training than two or 
four years. 

The following table shows the number of 
„ , students enrolled during the past three 

Station years in the School of Agriculture and 

Experiment Station. 

1906-7 1907-8 1908-9 

Four years' students 45 90 193 

Special students 14 24 38 

Winter courses 52 88 92 

111 202 323 

The following is a classification of students in the four 
years' courses in agriculture: 

1900-7 1907-8 1908-a 

Seniors 3 5 15 

Juniors 5 14 26 

Sophomores 14 20 52 

Freshmen 23 51 100 

45 90 193 

Students in the correspondence courses have increased 
in like manner. There were 567 new students enrolled 
for the year ending December 1, 1907, and 1,135 for the 
year ending December 1, 1908. The following table shows 
the number of reports received, corrected and returned 
during the five months of July, August, September, 
October and November for the years indicated: 

12 



1905 1906 1907 1908 

July 108 87 153 218 

August 112 120 137 196 

September 128 101 120 259 

October 229 204 168 509 

November 227 275 246 686 

Total 804 797 824 1,868 

The months of December, January and February are 
always the heaviest months. 

Last summer the school printed 20,000 copies of a 

circular setting forth the thirty-one courses of instruction 

which it offers by mail, but the number of 

ns rue ion y gj-^fiei^^s increased so rapidly that it has not 
Correspondence _ ., ^ . „ n ,, , c ^ 

distributed it, tor tear the number ot lessons 

received would be more than our limited force could 
properly correct. The use of these lessons by granges 
and other farmers' clubs is increasing, and in some public 
schools they are being used as a basis for instruction in 
agriculture and in English. An examination of our rec- 
ords shows that about 30 per cent of our winter-course 
students, other than those in dairy manufacture, have 
been previously enrolled in the correspondence courses. 

As previously indicated, the School of Agriculture 

and Experiment Station differs from other departments 

in that about one-half of its funds is ap- 

^" ^^ ®, propriated for the Experiment Station 

Demands , j i i ^n -^ 

work and hence one-halt its energies is, or 

should be, devoted to research or kindred work. This 
research work leads the citizens of Pennsylvania to look 
to us for guidance and advice, and brings us into many 
and diverse relations with various agencies for the pro- 
motion of agriculture. These outside relations require 
a large amount of time of the members of the fo,culty. 
This may be illustrated by stating that 246 lectures or 
addresses have been given outside of State College by 
members of the faculty of the School of Agriculture and 
Experiment Station during twelve months. There were 
over 400 letters received during the week ending April 13, 

13 



1908, or at the rate of more than 20,000 letters per year. 
Many of these letters contain inquiries concerning agii- 
cultural topics not infrequently requiring the analysis of 
samples, the examination of specimens or the search for 
data, before they can be answered properly. 

The analyses of fertilizers and foods for the State 
Department of Agriculture involve over 10,000 determina- 
tions a year, and occupy the almost exclu- 
Analyses of g^^^ time of seven members of our staff. 
p , These outside demands upon the school and 

station are increasing, and we are finding 
it more and more difficult to meet them. 

The Station is cooperating with farmers by furnishing 
them, free of charge, the necessary fertilizers and giving 
the needed directions for determining the 
Assistance fertilizer requirement of their soils, with 

Solicited ^^^^ understanding that the party receiving- 

such fertilizers follows the directions and 
reports the results to the Station. During 1907, ninety- 
five applications and seventy-one reports were received. 
The supervision in Pennsylvania of official tests for ad- 
mission to the advanced registry of the several dairy-breed 
associations is in charge of this station. One-hundred and 
twenty-five animals representing Jerseys, Guernseys and 
Ayrshires are on yearly tests, while forty-one seven-days' 
tests of Holstein-Friesian cows have been made. 

A butter-scoring exhibit has been inaugurated, in 
which five-pound packages of butter have been sent to be 
judged, the scores, criticisms and suggestions being re- 
turned to the makers. Over eighty creameries and dairy 
establishments in Pennsylvania were visited during the 
season of 1907, for the purpose of gathering information 
concerning the methods employed therein. While this 
work was found to be of direct service by correcting faults 
in operating the Babcock test in the use of commercial 
starters and in the adjustment of machinery, it has been 
discontinued during the past year for lack of funds. 

14 



Through the suggestion of one of our trustees, Mr. 

Bayard, educational exhibits were placed in seven county 

fairs during 1907, and in eleven fairs dur- 
Educational ^^^ ^qqq^ j.^^j^ j^-^, p^yg ^^q j^^, ^j^-g ^^_ 

^ tv F ■ hibit, and the College pays the additional 

expenses. The Pennsylvania Railroad ran 
an educational special in the southeastern portion of the 
state, in which six members of the staff of the School and 
Station gave the lectures. Twenty-two stops were made 
during three days, with an average of about one-hundred 
persons at each place. Applications are now on file from 
both the Pennsylvania and Reading Railroads for addi- 
tional service of this kind in the spring. 

At the request of the Director of this Station, the Chief 
of the Bureau of Soils of the United States Department 
of Agriculture assigned a soil party to begin 
fn Elfrn ^°'^^ ^ survey of Centre County on April 1, 1907, 
p .. and during the past season the survey was 

completed. Acting on the further sugges- 
tion of the Station, the United States Bureau of Soils has 
begun a reconnoissance soil map of Pennsylvania, and 
ten counties in northwestern Pennsylvania were surveyed 
the past season. A member of our staff, the instructor in 
soils, has taken part in both these surveys. 

Arrangements were effected through the suggestion of 
Dr. N. C. Schaeffer, tlie State Superintendent of Public 
Instruction, by which courses of instruction were given 
by members of our staff at two of the state summer 
schools during last July. These courses were designed to 
train teachers to present the subject of agriculture in high 
schools. I have received a letter from the principal of the 
Mountain Assembly at Ebensburg, which reads in part as 
follows: "Last year Professor Gilmore was such a 
splendid man in the department of agriculture at our 
summer assembly that I am writing to you early in order 
that we may get some man equally good. We want the 
strongest man possible in that department. Last year we 

15 



had forty students. This year we hope to make the sub- 
ject of agriculture the all-important subject at our sum- 
mer school." 

At the State Educational Association held here in July, 
the following resolution was adopted: 

"Resolved VI, That in view of the present-day demand for 
teachers to instruct in agricultnre, domestic science, and manual 
training, and in view of the possibility of using the property of 
Pennsylvania State College for this purpose, we call on the State 
to provide a Summer School for teachers at this institution, 
which shall furnish instruction to teachers in these practical sub- 
jects at the actual cost of transportation, board and lodging." 

I trust I need not go into further detail to illustrate how 
many demands are made upon the time and energy of our 
staff, entirely aside from routine classroom instruction. 

The plain and obvious problem of the Dean of the 

School and the Director of the Station is how to organize 

this work most efficiently and effectively. 
Great Demand j, , i i-i •;! . j 

, _ , and how to make bricks without straw. 

TOT I l*fl.Cni*T^ 

The one thing that has been borne in upon 
me most deeply in the past year and a half is the fact 
that if this enterprise is to keep its head above water it 
must be in a position to pay better salaries to members 
of its staff. During the past year and a half, eight mem- 
bers of our staff have resigned, to accept better positions. 
One man, to whom we were paying $1,200 a year, re- 
signed to accept the management of a farm at $1,600 a 
year, and another, to whom we are paying much less, is 
to leave us to take charge of a farm at $1,500 a year. 
Another man, to whom we paid last year $720 a year 
and were paying this year $900, has resigned to accept 
an experiment- station position at $1,000 a year, with a 
promise of $1,200 next year. Another man, to whom 
we are paying $1,000 a year, was recently offered $1,400, 
and another, to whom we are paying $1,800, was offered 
$2,000. Both these men, I am glad to say, are still with 

16 



us, but I do not know for how long. A young man to 

whom we were paying $1,200 a year was offered $3,600 a 

year to go to Manchuria to assist in establishing a school 

and station for the Chinese government, and the head of 

one of our departments, to whom we were paying $2,500 

a year, was elected President of the College of Hawaii 

at $4,800 a year. Every time I hear of an especially 

attractive opening elsewhere, I tremble for fear some 

member of our staff will be plucked; and, when a 

younger member of our staff comes into the office and 

quietly looks me in the eye, I may be sure he is going to 

announce that he has a better opportunity elsewhere, and 

desires to offer his resignation and to receive our best 

wishes. 

A member of our staff, who has recentl}^ resigned, told 

me long before he thought of resigning that this was not 

^ , , known as an experiment station but as an 

Too much of a , , . , . 

Training School experience station — good place to come 

to get experience before going to a desir- 
able position elsewhere. As it used to be said of a certain 
county in Ohio, it was a good place to be born, if you 
only got away soon enough. This constant changing 
is especially harmful to continuous experiment-station 
work. I once asked an experiment- station man who was 
an expert on potatoes, why no experiment station had 
ever produced a new variety of potatoes, and why the 
production of varieties of potatoes had always been the 
result of private effort. Without a moment's hesitation 
he replied : "Because experiment-station men do not 
remain long enough in one place." 

This is, however, by no means the most important 
phase of the subject. There are sometimes advantages in 
having a man resign, provided you can offer enough to 
get a better man. I have myself rendered signal service 
in this direction to at least three institutions. Each has 
prospered immensely since I left it. The number of men 
that have declined to come here in the last eighteen 

17 



months, on account of unsufficient salary, is much greater 
than the number who have left it in the same time for the 
same reason. Obviously, this is a matter that cannot be 
discussed in detail, but, were it possible to do so, I could 
make it clear to you that existing conditions require that, 
if the School of Agriculture and Experiment Station is to 
be brought to that plane of usefulness which the people of 
this commonwealth should, and I believe, do most ur- 
gently desire, it must be in a position to pay at least 
$3,000 a year to heads of departments and at least $2,000 
a year to assistant professors. Several colleges of agri- 
culture in states of the same class with Pennsylvania do 
not hesitate to pay from $3,000 to $4,000 a year to secure 
men they wish, or to keep men they do not desire to lose. 
I could easily prove this to you by mentioning specific 
instances, if I thought it proper to do so in a public ad- 
dress. 

While the most important factor of an institution is the 
ability of its staff, nevertheless classrooms, laboratories 

and equipment must be provided for them. 
Requisites for y, • n i • n • •\ t i. 

P St d it IS, of course, physically impossible to 

give instruction if you do not have places 
for students to sit or desks at which students can work. 
In the matter of buildings, the state has dealt liberally 
with the School of Agriculture and Experiment Station. 
It has spent nearly $300,000 on buildings which, so far as 
they go, are not excelled, probably, elsewhere in America. 
When this group of buildings was planned, it was doubt- 
less thought that they would be big enough to provide for 
the School of Agriculture for a generation. We moved 
into the Agricultural Building thirteen months ago. This 
building has two laboratories, one for agricultural chem- 
istry and the other for soils. The first has twenty-two 
desks and the second has twenty-four, eight of which are 
used for research work, hence cannot be used by students. 
These desks each have two sets of drawers and lockers, 
and hence by dividing the classes into sections, the agri- 

18 



cultural chemical laboratory cau accommodate properly 
forty-four students, and the soils laboratory thirty- two 
students. Next semester, the department of agricultural 
chemistry will have not less than eighty students, and in 
the soils laboratory there will be at least sixty. Next 
year, there will be not less than one hundred in the 
soils laboratory, and not less than one hundred and 
twenty-five in the agricultural chemical laboratory. The 
library room was found to be too small when the building 
was first occupied; we therefore took a room away from 
one of the departments this fall and made a reading- 
room of it, and now it is crowded. The largest room in 
the building will seat about two hundred people by bring- 
ing in extra chairs. On three days in one week last 
month, students were required to stand while listening to 
lectures. 

The fact that this building has proved inadequate is 
not a criticism of any one. This has occurred over and 
over again in many institutions. Improved 
Present facilities always means an increase in the 

Inadeaimte number of students. There is no man 

living wise enough to predict what will be 
the needs of The Pennsylvania State College twenty -five 
years hence. 

Our needs are so pressing in many directions that I am 
sometimes in doubt as to whether one can say that one 
need is greater than another, but on the whole I am dis- 
posed to think that our most immediate need is for a 
horticultural building and greenhouses. This building is 
planned to provide quarters for instruction in botany. 
No efficient and practical instruction in horticulture can be 
given during a large portion of the academic year without 
the aid of greenhouses and properly equipped laboratories. 
The present Agricultural Building was planned to provide 
one room for horticulture containing about 1,300 square 
feet of floor space. Our professor of horticulture, how- 
ever, has suggested plans for a new building containing 

19 



four floors, one for botany and three for horticulture, each 
floor containing 13,000 feet of floor space. If the Legis- 
lature should tomorrow make the necessary appropriation 
for this building, every room would be needed before it 
could be completed. The present botanical building was 
designed for both botany and horticulture, and w^as in- 
tended, I suppose, to accommodate a couple of dozen 
students. Its largest room, used as a combined class- 
room and laboratory, is perhaps 35x45 feet. Fifty stu- 
dents can be handled in this building with some degree of 
comfort and efficiency. This semester, there have been 
enrolled 181 students in botany, not counting the winter- 
course students who had to be provided for elsewhere on 
account of the crowded conditions. This is a great horti- 
cultural state, the third in the Union in the value of its 
horticultural products. This institution has, owing to its 
environment and to the organization of the department of 
horticulture, a great opportunity to become a leader in 
horticultural education in this country. With proper sup- 
port, this is almost as certain as that the sun rises and 
sets. 

What about the support? Can the great commonwealth 
of Pennsylvania afford it? This matter of appropriation 

is largely a habit of mind. You are in the 
Ste^^^c n habit of thinking of battleships costing 

$8,000,000 each, and therefore you do not 
think one Dreadnought more or less matters ; and yet the 
people of Pennsylvania contribute $500,000 toward the 
building of every one of these ships. The legislature 
of Illinois found it easier to contribute $2,000,000 to 
the University of Illinois than did the Pennsylvania 
legislature to appropriate $500,000 to The Pennsylvania 
State College. This is not because there are more peo- 
ple or wealthier people in Illinois or because thej' have 
more interest in education, but because they have the 
habit of supporting their state institution liberally. The 
people of Pennsylvania need to get the habit. 

20 



THE LEGISLATIVE APPROPRIATIONS 

EDMUND J. JAMES, President of the University 

The legislature of Illinois granted at the last session 
the following appropriations: 

Per For the 

annum bieunum 

I College of Agricultdre $50,000 $100,000 

Feeding experimeuta 25,000 50,000 

Experiments in corn-growiug 15,000 30,000 

Examination of soils 25,000 50,000 

Orchard investigations 15,000 30,000 

Dairy investigations 15,000 30,000 

Floriculture investigations 7,500 15,000 

$305,000 

U Ordinary operating expenses $450,000 $900,000 

Material for shop practice 5,000 10,000 

Increasing cabinets and collections 2,000 4,000 

Purchase of books, etc., for library 25,000 50,000 

Additions to apparatus and appliances .... 3,000 6,000 

Fire protection 1,500 3,000 

Engineering College and Experiment Station . 75,000 150,000 

Buildings and grounds 14,345 28,690 

State water survey 6,000 12,000 

Draining, etc. , on experimental farms .... 5,000 10,000 

Department of social and political science . . . 25,000 50,000 

School of Music :^,000 6,000 

Agricultural extension 6,000 12,000 

Law School 15.000 30,000 

Chemical Laboratory 10,000 20,000 

School of Pharmacv 5,000 10,00U 

Graduate School . ." '^0,000 100,000 

Veterinary College • • 30,00(i 

School of Household and Domestic Science . . 10,000 20,000 

Additional equipment of the water station ... . . 3,000 

Increasing telephone exchange • • 1,500 

Enlarging general heating and lighting plant . . . 35,000 

For purchase of farm land • • ^__lil^i* 

$1,502,790 

III Physics laboratory • • $250,000 

Natural History hall • • 150,000 

$400,000 

* Administration Building - • f 150,000 

* Housing College of Medicine • • 386,000 

$ 305,000 

1,502,790 

400,000 

Grand total $2,207,790 

*V«toed by the QoT«mor 
21 



THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE COLLEGE 

Deficiency Appropriation by Pennsylvania Legislature, 1907 

Agricultural Building $85,000 00 

Tunnel and Dairy Building 24,169 60 

Deficiencies 70, 361 32 

Total $179,530 92 

THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE COLLEGE 

General Appropriation by Pennsylvania Legislature, 1907 

School of Agriculture $70,000 

School of Engineering 60,000 

School of Mining and Metallurgy 50,000 

Department of Chemistry 10,000 

Department of Home Economics 12,000 

General Maintenance 30,000 

Science Building 20,000 

Enlarging Woman's Dormitory 13,000 

Athletic Field 15,000 

Tobacco experiment . . . .* 4,000 

Total $284,000 

It will be noted that the Illinois legislature appropri- 
ated $305,000 for the maintenance of instruction and 
i-esearch in the College of Agriculture, and in addition 
appropriated $12,000 for agricultural extension and 
$11,600 for additional land. The total amount appropri- 
ated by the Illinois legislature was $2,743,790, of which 
$536, OJO was vetoed by the Governor, leaving the total 
appropriation available $2,207,790. The total amount 
appropriated by the Pennsylvania legislature was $463,- 
530.92. The population of Illinois in 1900 was 4,821,000; 
in Pennsylvania it was 6,302,000. I take it that no Penn- 
sylvanian would care to admit that the per capita wealth 
was less in Pennsylvania than in Illinois. 

The New York legislature meets annually. During the 
last two years the legislature has appropriated each year 
$150,000 to the New York State College of Agriculture, or 
$300,000 for the two years for maintenance alone. It 
appropriated other money for buildings. But this is not 

22 



all. The state of New York supports an experiment sta- 
tion at Geneva. During the last two years this station 
has received from the state legislature about $180,000 for 
the maintenance of its work. In other words, there was 
appropriated by the New York legislature for instruction 
and research in agriculture $480,000. During the same 
period the Pennsylvania legislature appropriated $74,000. 
There were in 1900, according to the United States Census, 
227,000 farms in New York and 224,000 farms in Penn- 
sylvania. Comment is not necessary. 

President James, writing to the alumni of the Uni- 
versity of Illinois after the biennial appropriation of 
$2,207,790 had been approved by the Governor, said: 

"The Governor found it necessary to cut out the 
appropriation for the administration Imilding, $150,000, 
and the appropriation of $386,000 for the housing of the 
medical school, making a total of $536,000. It will be 
seen, however, that the appropriations finally approved 
by the Governor are considerably larger than those made 
for the biennium of 1905-7. This increase in appropria- 
tions, although much less than the trustees asked for and 
much less than the needs of the University require, is still 
considerable, and will enable the University to improve 
the quality of its work in many different directions, as 
well as extend somewhat its scope. 

"The income of the University of Illinois is still far 
below that of other first-class institutions with which, in 
the long run, the people of Illinois will wish it to be on a 
full parity. The alumni of the University should not 
cease to hold before themselves and before the people of 
the State the ideal of the State University as that of an 
institution entirely equal to the demands which the rising 
standards of wealth and education demand." 



28 



